Maya and Lucas Conquer the World
by Scripts18
Summary: Maya and Lucas taking on challenges, as friends or as boy/girlfriend. Set in different time periods, at different ages. Newest story: Maya and Lucas not talking about leaving high school. Content warning: first story mentions depression
1. Shadows

Maya's sitting at the IMAGINE circle in Central Park. The summer heat feels excellent on her shoulders and back. She's doing a self-portrait, though not a usual one. She's sketching her shadow across the word IMAGINE, planning to fill it in later with wings or something. Or maybe not. It looks great already. She's finally learning how to draw shadows.

_I love this, _she thinks. _I want to stay here forever. _

Someone walks behind her, obscuring her light. She turns around angrily, trying not to break her neck, to see who it is. "Hey punk-." The punk smirks down at her, and it irritates her how she can't really see his face. It vaguely occurs to her that she'd like to do a new picture, of his shadow against the sun. She isn't going to ask him to pose though.

"Punk? Is that any way you greet one of your dearest friends?" the punk asks.

"Hi Lucas," she grudges. She's seen a lot of him this summer. Riley and Farkle have been at camp for the past month, due to return right before school starts, so they haven't had anyone else. When summer began, they could barely get through a conversation, if they were able to hold a conversation at all, without biting each other's' heads off. Nevertheless, they had managed to form a strange bond, less because they had not choice, and more because they wanted to spend time with each other. The nicknames were less frequent, but the witty toss-offs were still as strong. Lucas still tipped his stupid imaginary hat, but less often. They were on the road to becoming real friends instead of just tag-alongs to their other best friends.

Maya likes it. She also fears it. It's hard to be close to another person. Riley, the Matthews, sometimes it felt that all the love she received served more to remind her that someone else didn't. It didn't always feel that way, of course. She knew that it was an unappreciative way to feel. It still came up sometimes.

Lucas sits down next to her, wincing when he feels the hot concrete. "How can you stand it out here?," he asks.

"I'm not standing," Maya jokes. "I'm sitting."

"Funny," Lucas says. "You should've at least bought a blanket to sit on, and something for your head."

"I'm fine. And you're interrupting my drawing," she complains.

"I'm sorry," he says. In the time they've spent together, he's come to respect her art a lot more. He tries not to bother her when she's in the middle of a piece. He'll sit a few feet away, reading maybe, or writing to Riley or Farkle. It's the quiet moments they spent like that that truly cemented their friendship. They had learned, and were still in the process of learning, how to trust one another. It was surprising to the both of them how they enjoyed the quiet. He starts to get up.

"No, never mind," Maya says. "I already got the IMAGINE part, and even with you here, I can do the shadow." Lucas sits back down, the ground not so hot this time. They sit quietly for a few minutes.

"I should've brought my hat," he finally says. Texas, now that was heat. But he'd always had his hat, and he and Maya usually sat in the shade if they were outside.

Maya smiles, still drawing. "Can't handle the New York sun can yah Tex?"

Lucas smiles back at her. "Please. I can take it." After another few quiet minutes though, he really can't. "I'm going to move to the bench under the tree," he tells Maya. He gets up. So does she. She doesn't say anything, so he doesn't either. He's happy to have someone to sit with anyway.

They sit on the bench. They're out of the direct sunshine, but the light still breaks through the branches of the trees making a twinkling effect. Lucas breathes a sigh of relief and smiles a little goofily. He loves the feeling of the sweat as it cools his face down. Maya notices. "Don't you want a napkin for your face?," she asks. "You look awful." He looks at her. She looks worse than he probably does, her blonde hair frizzing out in her ponytail, her t-shirt sleeves dirty with sweat.

"So do you," he comments. She sticks her tongue out at him and flips open a new page in her sketchbook. She starts sketching. When Lucas looks at the page, she's doing more shadows. He decides to interrupt. Something about the heat and the sweaty looks they both sport puts him a talkative mood. And those shadows. "Why the shadows?" he asks. She pauses.

"I like shadows," she says. She resumes sketching.

"That's it?" he asks. She hasn't given such a vague answer in a while. He respects it, but he doesn't really like it. She shrugs. _Do I really want to tell him? _she thinks_. _She realizes that she wants to, she wants to be able to trust Lucas, to really trust him. _I deserve to be able to trust other people._

"I like shadows," she explains. _I_ _hope_ _he doesn't freak out. Thank goodness he hasn't before._ "They're another part of who we are. Our shadows follow us in the sunshine, so there's always just a little bit of dark. Our dark comes out in the light. I guess that's it." She doesn't continue sketching. Lucas waits for her to finish. "Don't you think, that even in our happiest, brightest times, there's always still this dark part, some part that the light doesn't touch?"

He's a little surprised. He never thought that anyone else would be able to put into words what he himself felt. "Your father?" he gently asks. They talk about this too, about what they'd rather not talk about. It was another way they were building their friendship, but one acknowledged silently, like the silence of the times when Maya was working. She's trying to look at him, but her eyes are shifting up to the trees, the other benches, passersby. "Even in the happiest of my moments," she says, "filled with joy, surrounded by the people, the Matthews, Farkle, and you, who love me best… it can still feel kind of dark." She stares at the ground. "All of these other people love me," she says. "But he didn't. And it keeps me asking why he didn't, even when I shouldn't."

Lucas puts a hand on her shoulder. It's a comforting hand, and she pauses before she puts her own hand on it for a moment. He's surprised at her willingness to be so open. He liked her hand on his own. No, there's no electric spark, no wondering if they had feelings for each other. They did. He likes how she included him amongst the people who love her best. It was a big step, one he appreciated a lot. But romantic feelings? No. He moves his hand. She's still having trouble looking at him. He knew what a big thing it was for her to open like that, even now. He wants to continue to build her trust in him, so he opens up too. It's gotten easier, but it wasn't easy. "You know my dad's still in Texas," Lucas says.

"I know."

"And you know that he was diagnosed with depression," he continues.

Maya looks at him, a little worried. She knew about his father's battle with emotions he couldn't control. She knew how it hurt Lucas. She nods, slowly.

"I wasn't so sure if he loved me. How could he love me, when he couldn't even love himself? When he didn't love my mom?" He stares at the sky a little bit. "But he did. He does. I know that. I never forgot that though, and it hangs over me from time to time.

"The fact that I could inherit his disease hangs over me too. It's my shadow." _Is this okay?, _he wonders. They haven't been this personal before, even when they did talk about their parents. He's a little scared to look at her. "I guess it's a good thing you try to capture shadows," he comments. He looks at her, trying not to be nervous. "Maybe when you do, you won't be so afraid of them anymore." She looks away. He feels stupid, thinking he's gone too far. She resumes sketching, not saying anything in response to what he said. He sits for another moment, feeling really, really stupid, regretting messing up their budding friendship. He's about to leave, but her hand holding his wrist stops him.

"Stay a moment," she says. She's not looking at him; she's still staring at her page. He sits back down, waiting while she sketches. He tries to relax back into the quiet.

_I hope he likes it, _Maya thinks. She tears the page out of her book and hands it to Lucas, not looking directly at him. He takes it. It's not terrific, not a near expert drawing like her others have been. But it makes him feel happy. It's a rough sketch of their shadows mixed in with the shadows of the trees. He can make out the rays of the sunshine too. "It's us," Lucas says.

Maya hesitates, slightly. "Yah, it is." She looks in his eyes. "But these shadows can remind you more of the light, and less of the darkness. At least I hope they will." _Dang, _she thinks, looking away. She's not used to being very open with anyone besides Riley. Why would she be? _That's so corny. _She looks at Lucas, sees him smile.

"Thank you Maya," he tells her. He doesn't say anything else, knowing that he's at the limits of her spectrum of emotional display. But he says it with genuine sincerity and appreciation. She's relieved. She takes off her hair tie and shakes her hair, letting drops of sweat hit Lucas. "Hey! Watch the drawing," he says. He laughs a little.

_You are getting too close to him, _she suddenly thinks. It causes her to tense up for a moment. She remembers the drawing she just made; however, and she tries not to let herself be frightened away. _Shadows can be a good thing. _They continue sitting, watching the light twinkle, and their shadows dance.

**AN:**Part on of a possible series in which Lucas and Maya conquer the world, another dimension to the "Girl Meets World" theme. All one-shots, taking place in different periods of their lives. Romantic or friendship. Mentions of Farkle and Riley, romantic.


	2. Texas Pride

Leaning back in her armchair, Maya propped her feet up on her desk. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," she said into the phone.

"I am. But I really miss you," Lucas said. She could hear a lot of noise in the background. "We should take a trip here someday, together."

"I can't wait to see what there is in good ol' Tex. Besides farm animals and people who tower over me."

Lucas laughed. "I'll call again in a few days," he said.

"Tip over a cow for me," Maya said.

"That's inhumane," Lucas argued.

"Then eat some authentic smokehouse ribs for me," she said.

"Glad to do so," Lucas said. "I love you."

Maya squealed inwardly, the way she did whenever he said that. "I love you too." They hung up.

_I love you, I love you, I love you. _The squeal she'd been suppressing found its way out of her mouth. When she realized what she was doing, she rolled her eyes and smacked herself on the head. "Stupid Maya," she told herself. She didn't stop smiling though. She stood and took her cowboy hat off the hook where it hung on the same wall where her desk was stationed. It was her one month anniversary gift from Lucas. He had it airbrush decorated in her style: the front rim of the hat was New York City on a hot day in the spring, the back was NYC at night. The top surface of the hat was a street view of the city with her favorite quote from Alicia Key's song "New York" – "Concrete jungle where things are made of, there's nothing you can't do."

"I wonder what happened to the first cowboy hat he put on my head.." she wondered aloud. She thinks back to their sophomore year History class, when they were studying the history of the Old West. Lucas had taken it in stride, acting a lot cheesier than he usually was….

[FLASHBACK]

She felt the hat before she saw it. "You're in my territory now," a voice drawled. She knew that exaggerated accented anywhere. Maya looked behind and up at Lucas, who, for the fourth day in a row, was decked out in his "Texas" clothes: worn jeans, red bandana and shirt with little cows on it, and a real, honest, cowboy hat that he wore when he worked on the ranch in Texas. She was going nuts.

"It's okay when I point out your heritage to make fun of you," she told him, slamming her locker door, "but this flashy Texas pride is really getting on my nerves." He smiled widely and bent down to be level with her face.

"Now don't tell me the little lady is getting tired of our game," he teased her.

"Save the sweet talk for Riley," Maya replied.

"Someone getting nervous that she's falling for the gentleman?" he asked. Maya rolled her eyes. He tapped her on the nose, scrunching up his face in a smile that should only be reserved for baby bunnies. She punched his arm in response, as hard as she could. "Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

"Tex don't mess with New York!" Maya proudly declared. She took her hat off and started dancing down the hall, bursting into the chorus of "New York" by Alicia Keys. "Concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do," she sang. She tossed Lucas his hat like a Frisbee. Lucas laughed and followed her down the hall to their history class as the bell signaling five minutes until the next class rang.

"See? You understand heritage pride too Miss NYC," he said. She shrugged.

"I was born in this city," Maya said. "I was born to this city."

"You'll understand then," Lucas said, growing serious, "how important it is to carry it with you, how much a part of you it is." He held Maya's hat like a precious relic. "You might think it's just a silly hat, but for me," he paused and shrugged. "I'm carrying the history of my family, of my home. It means everything to me." He looked at her wondering if she would make a joke.

Maya kept a calm composure and nodded slightly as her insides did a happy dance. She teased Lucas from the moment she'd met him, but she never expected she would find herself genuinely interested in his Texas pride, or even genuinely interested in being his friend. He didn't know it, and she didn't acknowledge it openly, but her jokes, over time, had become a subtle prodding for him to talk about his Texan roots.

"You know," she said as they reached their classroom, "now that you mention the hat, you look a lot better with one on." Lucas smirked at her, ready to comment on how she liked his appearance. "Because I can do this," she said, and she pulled down the brim of the hat to block his face. "Much better," she said. "Now be a gentleman and open my door."

[END FLASHBACK]

Maya took off the hat and held it as she had seen Lucas had. She smiled, knowing that moment would always be one she remembered as a stepping stone to seeing Lucas in a romantic light. Something suddenly occurred to her, and she grabbed her phone to send a text. _**What happened to the hat you put on my head during the Old West week our sophomore year? **_

Her phone rang with Lucas's favorite Rascal Flatts song ringtone a few minutes later. She smirked at his haste and read the message.

_**I gave it to you for our one month anniversary, redecorated.**_


	3. Perfect no 1

12:35 am. Maya's art studio in a forgotten corner of the arts area of NYU. Empty pizza box besides them. Guffaws. Lots of guffaws. "Knock knock," Maya says.

"Who's there?"

"Eggplant."

"Eggplant who?"

"Aren't you glad I didn't make a stupid joke about fruit?"

"Oh no," Lucas says, grabbing his stomach. He snorts in his laughter. "That," he gasps, "was the worst one yet."

Maya smugly shrugs and declares, "I am the queen of bad knock knock jokes." They stretch out on the floor, trying to stop laughing get their breathing back in order. Lucas suddenly bolts up. "Maya, do you need-?"

"It's right here," Maya says, patting her jeans pocket. "I always have my inhaler, Sundance." *****

Lucas grins. "I'm glad. Riley asks me to check up on you every now and then. She even made me carry and extra inhaler around just in case." He unclips his key ring from his belt loop to show her. "See?"

_Gotta love my overprotective nutjob. _Maya shrugs, shaking off her uncomfortable feelings. _Even if she does have trouble trusting me. _"She's very careful. Kinda balances out my own recklessness." _Good thing Cowboy's never been great at picking up on sarcasm._

"You're her best friend. She just wants to take care of you," Lucas says. "By the way, how are you doing? With the trial over and everything?" He looks at her concerned, ready to pounce if she started to break down. With eight years of friendship, it's not like he hasn't done it before.

_Shoot. _Maya taps her fingers nervously against the floor. "Fine, I guess." She sighs. "He's out of my life, and he has a chance to put his own back together. The assault charges against me were dropped, because it really was accidental, so he'll be serving shorter time- only the charges for illegal drug possession stood. He'll serve a year and a half. Riley and I are asking around at her internship job for a counselor to help him get through life in, and eventually out, of the prison system. He'll be okay."

Lucas nods. "That's great. I'm glad Riley could be there for you at the trial. I'm only sorry I couldn't be there myself."

She's turned her back to him. "Yah. Having Riley there was wonderful." Maya's voice sours. "She's a radiant beam of light." When she realizes what she's saying, and who she's saying it to, she shakes it off and turns back to Lucas. He's staring at her with an angry glare.

"Why are you mad at her?" he asks. Maya rolls her eyes.

"Who ever said I'm mad at her? Stop making assumptions, Howdy Doody." Maya gets up and gabs the pizza box, walking to the door. "I have to throw this away," she says over her shoulder. "Be right back." The door closes.

Outside, Maya leans back against the wall and sighs. "Mr. and Mrs. Perfect," she mumbles. "And the screwed up friend." ****************************************************************

"What was that about?" Lucas wonders aloud. He stands up and paces around the room, irritated. _How could she possibly be mad with Riley?_ _Is she going into one of her "avoiding everyone" periods again? _"Whoa," he suddenly pauses. He stands in front of the painting Maya had been working on before he came over with the pizza. At the first glance, it looked like a messy fusion of colors and swirly lines. If you looked very closely; however, at the bottom right corner, there was the face of a tiny gray girl, looking at the swirls, smiling. If you looked extra carefully, as Lucas did, you saw that the colorful swirls were faces- he could recognize himself, Riley, Farkle, the Matthews, and Katy and Shawn, all detailed excellently in bright colors. He turns at the sound of the door closing. "This is great," he says, forgetting he was angry. Maya nods, once.

"She's gray, but she's happy looking at her colorful friends, knowing she'll never be one of the bright ones," Maya muses.

_So that's what it is, _Lucas thinks. "Maya?" he says. She avoids his eyes.

"Listen, it's late," she says. "We should both be getting back to our dorms." She remains standing by Lucas, looking at her painting sadly. "It's nice, but it's not perfect."

Lucas picks up on her tone. "Maybe it doesn't need to be perfect," he gently says. She meets his eyes. "I think it's incredible already."

Maya sighs. "You're referring to myself aren't you?" she asks. "This isn't really about the painting."

"Why are you mad at Riley?" he asks.

"Is that what this is about? Riley?" she asks. She crosses her arms defiantly like she was expecting a challenge. "Look, you have every right to defend her; she is your girlfriend. But…" she stumbles. "It can be harder to be her best friend than you think."

"What?" Lucas says.

Maya shakes her head. Lucas can't believe what he hears next. "Do you really think I enjoy being Riley's 'damsel in distress'? Do you think it's fun always being the one she 'saves'? You know what that really means?" Tears are welling up in her eyes. "It means that no one trusts me to handle things on my own. People look at me like I'm this time bomb, just waiting to explode and mess everything up. Then Perfect Little Riley comes riding in to save the 'broken' girl. Whoopee. Fun." She waves her hand in front of her face. "I appreciate her and everything she's done for me. I do. I love her like a sister. But always being the one that has to be 'saved' gets really old."

She's right about the time bomb. People tended to look at Maya with a glance that said, _let's just wait and see how you mess this up._ Lucas had never heard her speak like this before. He takes a second to gaze stupefied at her before flicking her in the forehead. "What the-?"

"Do you know how ridiculous you sound?" he asks. "You honestly think YOU'RE the one who always needs saving? No offense Maya, but I don't think I've ever heard anything more stupid in my life." He grins. "I'll have you know that some of Riley's best qualities come from you. Don't pretend that you haven't helped her learn to appreciate her parents and Auggie instead of whining about them. Don't act like you're not the one who lets her cry and snot up your shirts. Don't try to deny that you helped her through our breakup, and that you convinced her to take another chance on dating. Thank you, by the way." He rubs his knuckles on her head, hoping he would get away with it. "Neither of you is perfect. Neither of you is a damsel in distress. You're Riley and Maya. You're friends who help each other. That's it. And no matter what any idiot has to think about you, I happen to know you are… you. Perfectly." Maya raises her eyebrow at him.

"Don't ever knuckle rub or flick my head again," she says.

"And she's back," Lucas says. "Thank goodness. Sappy Maya's no fun." He makes a gag face.

"I know. I wish I knew a certain cowboy that could rope her and tie her down," Maya jokes. She's smiling, but serious when she says, "I'm not gonna say thank you." Lucas nods. This is the way their friendship-_real_ friendship worked. No need to feel obligated to say anything, least of all "thank you".

"You're welcome," Lucas says. "I never would've had you say it anyway." He picks up a tiny paintbrush resting in a cup of yellow on the paint dock of the easel. "May I?" he asks. He doesn't wait for her to respond. He dabs a tiny dot of bright yellow on the nose of the gray girl.

"Lucas!" Maya exclaims.

"You're turn," he says, and he dabs her on the nose. She looks at him with an exaggerated annoyed expression.

"This is an abandoned corner of the arts building," Maya warns. "If I beat you up, no one would come to help you."

"I'm so scared," he teases her. He expects her to chase him with her fists up, but she just rolls her eyes.

"Let's go," she says. "It really is late."

They gather up some of their stuff and leave the studio. The little gray girl seems to be smiling a little brighter.

**AN**: *This is a reference to a previous story I did.

I had to repost this; I wasn't happy with the original draft. So here it is! I will be updating with tumblr news later.


	4. Conquering I love you 3

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Apple."

"Apple who?"

"Aren't you glad I didn't say orange?"

"I think that takes the prize for the absolutely worst one so far," Lucas declared.

Maya snorted a little in her laugh. She'd been working late in her studio and called Lucas to bring some food. Now they sat in the center of the room on the floor, telling each other bad knock knock jokes to pass the time. Maya's jokes were truly terrible, but Lucas was winning so far. In trying to think of the jokes that were so bad they were actually funny, he came up with jokes that actually were funny which ruined the game. Then the fact that a game of jokes could be ruined by honestly good jokes made them laugh even harder. Maya lifted up her head from Lucas' crossed leg and hit him with the pillow she'd been using. "I'd say we're doing this romance thing pretty well," she said.

"Of course," Lucas said. "I tell you jokes and bring you pizza." She smiled and put her hand over his.

Maya and Lucas had been dating for a few months, a little over a year after Riley and Lucas had decided that a long history together wasn't enough to keep them together. It took a while, but after enough time, a blessing from Riley, and an argument in which Maya heard Lucas curse for the first time in all their years of knowing each other, Maya and Lucas had become a couple. And maybe it was just Lucas, but he would swear he saw her smile more, and brighter, in the months of their being together.

"Alright, I have one," said Lucas.

"Oh no," said Maya.

"Knock knock?"

"What bad joke is here now?"

"I _said_, knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Tulips."

"Tulips who?"

He pecked her on the cheek in response. "My 'tulips'", he said, grinning at her.

"You took that from a movie didn't you?" she asked. "I should flick you in the ear for that. But it's my turn."

"This should be bad," he commented. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Exhaust."

"Exhaust who?"

"I am exhausted from these bad jokes and stolen movie ideas."

"Now that sucked."

She laughed before turning quiet and leaning her forehead against his own with her eyes closed.

"Thank you for bringing me pizza and making me laugh," she said. She opened her eyes and kissed him. "Thank you for not giving up." She was referring to their relationship.

"I could never." Lucas tried to breathe steady as he prepared to introduce his next joke. "My turn," he said. She stuck her tongue out at him again, bracing for his next attempt.

"Knock knock."

"Now who's there?"

"I."

"What kind of a joke is this? I who?"

"I love you. And that," he looked directly into her eyes, "is not a joke."

She stood up and started pacing. She wasn't running, but she wasn't leaping into his arms either. He knows what she's thinking. Maya knew that Riley was the only other girl he'd said that to, despite dating a few other girls. She knew that their "I love you's" had never been tossed around as jokes, but she also knew that over time they had dried and turned brittle until they were left with dust. He walked to her and gently took her hand.

"Knock knock," he said.

"Who's there?" she tenaciously replied.

"First."

Maya looked at him, confused and frightened. "First who?"

"First love. It didn't last forever. First love very rarely does." He places his other hand on her face. "We could be forgiven for that. We could be forgiven if we have other loves that fade after a time." He takes a deep breath, worried about testing her patience. "Last one."

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Texas."

She raises an eyebrow at him.

"Texas who?"

"Texas strong and Texas sized. That's how I would describe my heart." She smiles a little. "Big enough to love again, and strong enough to have learned how to hold all of the 'I love you's together. You can fall in love, and fall out of love," he said. "But what matters is that I love you right now, and I want you to trust me. I don't what else I can say to help you to do that though, except say it again. I love you."

It felt different saying it this time, he realized. When he first said it to Riley, it was all twinkly and bubbly. Saying it to Maya was like the first time in a brand new sweater after you'd thrown your old ragged favorite out. You knew you'd never forget your old sweater, but that the new one would last much longer and soon become as fitted to you as the other one.

She rested her head against his heart, and he wrapped his arms around her. She looked up at him.

"Knock knock," she said.

"Who's there?"

"I."

He smiled. "I who?"

"I trust you, and I trust you to love me."

He slowly felt the hope leak out of him like helium from a balloon. That was nice, but it certainly wasn't what he wanted to hear. He would love her until she was ready to love him. Lost in thinking about that, he didn't see her smirk- or else he would've been ready for the kiss she gave him.

"Oh, wait, who's that at the door?"

When she smiled at him, he vaguely thought back to what he said to Riley on their first date. That memory had grown duller with the years, but this one, he was pretty sure, would always show up in his mind sharply focused, but glittering around the edges. In her eyes.

"Knock knock," she said.

"Who's there?"

"I love you." And she kissed him again.

**AN URGENT: **I've decided not to update this story regularly as I have been doing anymore. I will continue with it, but randomly, only when a story inspiration really strikes me. I'm sorry if I diasppointed anyone, but I'd rather work on other stories, non-romantic probably.

And thank you to the reader that left the suggestion of Farkle and Riley as a couple trying to get Lucas and Maya together. I'll try to honor that.

I'm working with another author Writing Distractions for a collaboration on my script/story "Beautiful Reasons". I hope I get to work with other writers, no matter who you "ship", in a similar way. Both WD and I would love to do a group collab, so please don't be afraid to message! Thank you for all of the positive feedback, but I hope no one is afraid to leave critical (but sensible) comments.


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